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Generations of Men: Part 2
Generations of Men: Part 2 is the twenty-first episode of Tech 10: Star Spirit, and the ninth episode of the second season. Episode to Sandrill and Kugelblitz facing off with each other, continuing from where the last episode cut off. Sandrill charged at Kugelblitz, morphing his shape into a stream of sand with a drill attached to the front. Kugelblitz waited until Sandrill was about to strike and suddenly entered his Fired Up mode, dodging the attack and shooting fire across the length of the sand, transforming it into glass. Sandrill’s body dropped to the ground, almost completely petrified. Nova: “He must have some built-up anger if he can use Kugelblitz’s Fired Up form at will!” Kugelblitz: “What’s wrong, pops? Feeling a bit stiff?” Sandrill’s drill suddenly dissipated into metallic sand, which formed into a hand and grabbed the SpecTrix symbol, transforming him into Overtide. Overtide: “I see you at least inherited my knack for terrible puns.” Kugelblitz: (Shrugs) “Well, I can’t really credit you for much else regarding fighting.” Overtide suddenly shot a stream of water at Kugelblitz, who jumped into the air, flying over the attack. Kugelblitz: “Wow, rude.” Kugelblitz landed behind Overtide and shoved his hand into the water alien’s liquid form. After only a few seconds, Overtide’s body began boiling and melting, beginning to droop to the ground without the support of its icy shell. Kugelblitz: “You might want to look into some anti-aging cream, dude. You’re sagging a bit.” Overtide whipped around and sucker-punched Kugelblitz in the face with a blob of water. As Kugelblitz stumbled backwards, Overtide transformed into a humanoid alien seemingly made of both hardened and flowing magma. Overtide/Magmator: “You wanna talk melting? Let’s see how you do against this!” Magmator fired a stream of lava towards Kugelblitz, who countered with a stream of fire that managed to split the stream around him. Nova: “Uh, can Kugelblitz handle that kind of heat?” Nullamor: “Feuer eat that kind of heat for breakfast. The real problem is when that lava hits him and starts cooling.” Nova: “What do you mean?” Nullamor: “Just keep watching.” Kugelblitz’s fire began giving way to the stream of lava, unable to create enough pressure to drive it back. After a few moments, the stream managed to break through his fire defense and slammed into his body, sending him stumbling backwards a few feet. As his body was consumed by the molten rock, he found it hard to move, eventually being completely trapped in a mound of swiftly-cooling lava. Magmator smirked and walked over to the smoking pile of rock. Magmator: “So, you ready to give up yet?” Magmator’s question was promptly answered by a blue flash exploding out of the stone casing, the light fading to reveal Diamond Eyes. Eyes: (Smirks) “I’m gonna have to say “no” to that one.” ---- back to the Alpha Team facing off against Prelude and Zetium. Prelude: “Ah, I remember you now. Or some form of you, rather.” Reaper: “One that no longer exists on any terms.” Prelude: “I seem to recall sensing the destruction of your mana signature. In other words, your death.” Reaper: “You sensed right. The story of my return is an odyssey unto its own, so I’ll hold off on recanting the details for the sake of brevity. For now, you will leave this planet, either by choice or by death. I’d personally recommend the former, from personal experience.” Prelude: “What makes you think you can stop me? You’ve never so much as damaged my energy form.” Reaper: “True. A creature of mana such as yourself is immune to the majority of attacks from mortals like me. However, there is one trick I have up my sleeve that I’m willing to bet you don’t know about.” Prelude: “Which would be?” Reaper grabbed his cloak and pulled out two ornately decorated black orbs, throwing them onto the ground near Prelude, where they created a metallic pinging sound upon impact. They almost immediately activated, lighting up and creating large, swirling portals of light, out of which stepped two Death Hounds. Reaper: “Allow me to postulate for a moment: the next thing you’re going to say is something along the lines of “What makes you think these creatures could possibly defeat me?”.” Prelude: “What makes you think these creatures could possibly defeat me?” Prelude paused for a moment to process what had just happened. Prelude: “Am I really that predictable?” Reaper: “After hearing the same stock phrases spouted by various threats over and over, you tend to pick up on a few trends. Been a few thousand years since I heard that particular phrase, granted, but still.” While the conversation between Reaper and Prelude had been happening, the rest of the Alpha Team and Zetium were stuck observing the verbal confrontation in impatient silence. F3: “So...are we ever going to get to the fighting bits?” Zetium: “Hell if I know. I could start shooting mana at you right now if you want.” F3: “Well, if it gets this over with faster-” F3 was promptly knocked out and sent flying backwards by a shot of pure mana from Zetium’s hand. Herc smacked his own face out of frustration. Herc: (Grumbling) “Why is everyone around me either nonsensical and/or melodramatic?” Pyros: “’Cuz it’s fun?” Herc: “Not helping.” ---- Magmator jumped back and began shooting another stream of lava towards Diamond Eyes, who blocked it with his right arm. Eyes: “Your lava isn’t going to do much good against diamond, you know. Even if you bury me again, I can just bust right out.” Magmator: “True.” Magmator reached for the SpecTrix symbol and transformed into a one-eyed humanoid alien made of black and blue crystal. The alien suddenly shrunk a bit, compressing himself into a fully jet-black, metallic form. Magmator/Carbon: “Of course, on the flip side, diamond ain’t gonna do much against this.” Eyes: “Probably not, I guess. Come over here and attack me, then.” Carbon: “...What?” Eyes: “You heard me.” Carbon shot Diamond Eyes a glare and began advancing, carefully making his way across the ground. Diamond Eyes observed the awkward way Carbon walked, raising an eyebrow at him. Eyes: “Yeah, that’s what I figured. You’re pretty dense in that form. If you’re not careful, you could end up getting yourself stuck.” Carbon: “I know. You’re free to try attacking me if you want.” Eyes: “I’m gonna have to pass on that one. I don’t know exactly what you’re made of right now, but I’m pretty sure it’s a lot harder than diamond and almost as hard as your head. So...” Diamond Eyes twisted the StarTrix symbol, transforming into a tall, blue and red alien with three eyes and a rather dapper-looking suit with a bow tie affixed onto the StarTrix. Eyes/???: “Meet Candyman, named so in part because of whom I scanned for the DNA sample.” Carbon: “That is...wholly unfamiliar.” Candyman: “Of course it is. I’m not sure his species even exists in our timeline. In any case, he has a rather interesting set of powers, I must say.” Candyman sauntered over to Carbon. As soon as he entered striking distance, Carbon took a swing at him, but he was able to swiftly dodge out of the way and punch Carbon’s right shoulder. Almost immediately, his shoulder began melting into thick black goop, his arm eventually falling off. Carbon: “What the hell?!” Candyman: “Melting powers. Doesn’t matter what you’re made out of, Candyman can melt it.” Carbon: “Well then, I’ll just transform into-” Candyman suddenly shoved his arm through Carbon’s back, melting his way through to the SpecTrix symbol before Carbon could reach it. He swiftly grabbed the symbol and pulled it back through the hole he had made in Carbon’s body, taking possession of it. Carbon: “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!” Candyman: “Winning.” Candyman tapped the SpecTrix symbol, forcing Carbon to revert to human form. Carbon/Isaac: “That’s cheating!” Candyman: “Hardly. But, I suppose if you’re going to be a sore loser about it...” Candyman tossed the SpecTrix symbol back to Isaac, who caught it and placed it back onto his chest, transforming into a skeletal alien covered in sickly greenish-brown acid. Isaac/PHAcid: “How about you try a taste of your own medicine?!” PHAcid fired a stream of acid towards Candyman, who swiftly rolled out of the way, scraping his hands along the ground as he went. PHAcid: “I wouldn’t bother trying to find a good place to hit me. PHAcid’s body is completely covered in acid. One touch, and you’d melt before I would.” Candyman: “True, I suppose.” PHAcid continued shooting acid towards Candyman, who simply kept rolling to the side, moving in a circle of sorts around his skeletal opponent. Nova: “What’s going on out there? Why hasn’t Theo transformed into something else yet?” Moranna: “Theodore and Isaac have very different fighting styles. Since the SpecTrix can do a lot before timing out, Isaac throws whatever he feels like using at the wall to see what sticks. Theodore, on the other hand, learned to fight with the StarTrix, where every new transformation significantly drained his transformation time. Fortunately, he seems to take after me in the strategy department.” Candyman had kept dodging to the side, keeping a calm composure as PHAcid had slowly grown more and more irate. PHAcid: “Hold still, will ya?!” Candyman: “Alright.” Candyman stopped rolling and stood up, placing himself directly in PHAcid’s line of fire. PHAcid: (Narrows eyes) “This is some sort of trick, isn’t it?” Candyman: “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Go ahead and shoot me anyways. What’s the worst that could happen?” PHAcid: (Lowers his arms) “Yeah, that pretty much convinced me this is a trick.” (Begins walking towards Candyman) “I’m coming over there to kick your ass myse-WOAH!” PHAcid had been interrupted by the ground underneath him suddenly giving way, burying him up to his chest in thick, melted earth. Candyman responded by turning to the side and mockingly putting his hand up to the side of his head. Candyman: (Smugly) “What was that? Weren’t you saying something about coming over to kick my ass just now?” Nova: “Oh, I get it now! He melted the ground beneath him as he rolled, then tricked Mr. Logical into thinking he had set something else up as a trap!” Moranna: “He’s got quite a brain on him. I’m not sure I appreciate the attitude, though. He gets that from his father.” ---- back to the mountain field. Herc and Pyros are fighting Zetium as Prelude is fending off Reaper’s Death Hounds. Prelude: (Punches away one of the Death Hounds) “Your beasts are quite the interesting specimens. I assume you had some assistance creating them.” Reaper: “That I did. They are loyal to only me, however.” Prelude: “Good to know.” Prelude’s hands suddenly lit up with Dark Mana, creating an explosive force that knocked away the Death Hounds, stunning them. Prelude: “Unfortunately, that’s not going to help you much.” Before the Death Hounds could recover, Prelude grabbed one of them by the neck, lifting it up into the air. His eyes flashed with Dark Mana, indicating usage of some sort of spell. Prelude: “So, their only weakness without extraneous circumstances seems to be...getting eaten. How odd.” The eyes on Prelude’s chest lit up as the massive rows of teeth lining his abdomen opened wide, exposing a swirling vortex of energy. He casually grabbed the other Death Hound and tossed both of them into the vortex, closing the mouth on his torso after them. Prelude: “But not an issue.” Prelude turned to face Reaper, steadily beginning to approach him. Prelude: “Now would be an appropriate time for you to retreat. We’re not here to fight you.” Reaper: “It’s a few millennia too late for that.” Reaper suddenly drew one of the swords mounted on his back and threw it towards Prelude, lodging it in his chest. Instead of the mere annoyance Prelude had been expecting, the sword’s impact created a spark of pain, actually having pierced his energy form somehow. Reaper: (Smirks) “I suppose now you'll say “What?! Impossible!”.” Prelude: “What?! Impossible!” Prelude shot Reaper a nasty look. Prelude: “That’s just obnoxious.” Reaper: “That’s what makes it so entertaining for me.” Reaper tugged on thin, nearly invisible piece of string Prelude had yet to notice, yanking his sword from Prelude’s chest and returning it to his hand. Reaper: “For the record, the explanation is that these blades have been infused with some very unique properties, one of which makes them able to actually effect energy beings.” Prelude: (Healing the hole in his chest) “I see.” Prelude’s hands began glowing with Dark Mana. Prelude: “Then this should be quite the interesting battle!” ---- PHAcid: “Alright, that’s it. No more messing around!” He slowly moved his right arm through the melted earth, eventually reaching the SpecTrix symbol and transforming into Electrolite, who morphed into a lightning bolt and shot out of the earth, landing a few meters away before reforming. Electrolite: “I have more experience with this form than you have with all your transformations combined. What now, smart guy?” Candyman sighed and shook his head. Candyman: “Well, I certainly wasn’t looking forward to this. I suppose there’s only one thing for me to try.” Candyman grabbed the StarTrix symbol and transformed into Over Now, who calmly began walking towards Electrolite. Electrolite: “What? You’re just going to walk right towards me? Are you giving up, or have you just not thought this through?” Over Now stayed silent, continuing to approach Electrolite without breaking stride. Electrolite’s brow furrowed in annoyance. Electrolite: (Fires a bolt of electricity) “Try this!” The electric bolt slammed directly into Over Now, but didn’t seem to have any effect, as the approaching alien didn’t even seem to acknowledge it. Electrolite: “What the hell?” Electrolite fired off a few more rounds of electric bolts, none of which had any effect on Over Now. Now: “Cause: Electric Bolts. Effect: Damage. Effect nullified.” Electrolite: “...You have got to be kidding me.” Over Now finally reached Electrolite, stopping about a foot away from him. Electrolite: “Are you going to attack me or what?” Over Now stayed silent. Electrolite: “Alright, I think I get it. You can only nullify one part of a Cause-Effect chain, right? If you tried attacking me, you could prevent yourself from getting electrocuted by physical contact with me, but you couldn’t prevent me from creating an extra surge of electricity that would remain unaffected by your abilities.” Now: “...Correct.” Electrolite: “Well then, it looks like we’re at a bit of a stalema-” Electrolite was interrupted by a swift punch to the face, which was followed up a by a series of rapid punches across his chest, slowly driving him backwards. Over Now stood perfectly still, watching as Electrolite was assaulted by some sort of invisible force. Electrolite: “What the-OOF!-hell?!” Now: “Cause: Attacking. Effect: Inflicting damage. Cause nullified.” Nova: “What the heck is going on over there?!” Nullamor: “It looks like Theodore found a way to fight and keep his distance at the same time.” Nova: “But how? Over Now isn’t a ranged alien.” Nullamor: “Basically, Over Now removed the “Cause”, AKA him punching Isaac, but kept the effect, AKA Isaac being punched. By removing the Cause, he also removed any other Cause-Effect chains that might spring up from it, such as being electrocuted by Electrolite’s body.” Nova: “Yeesh. Over Now sounds like a really complicated alien.” Nullamor: (Nods) “But a very effective one.” ---- to Herc and Pyros fighting Zetium, who’s blasting beams of pure mana at the two and raising the occasional earthen golem. Herc: (Blocking a mana beam with a shield) “Dethrouge...I swear I’ve heard that name somewhere before.” Pyros: (Lobbing fireballs at Zetium) “Well, could ya worry about it later? We ain’t in the greatest spot right now!” Herc: “Right. We need to figure out some way to break through these attacks.” Zetium: “Well, good luck with that. I was one of the top officers in the Obsidian Death, so I wouldn’t count on beating me that easily.” Herc: “The Obsidian Death? I thought most of you got killed off in the attack on Earth.” Zetium: “Like hell I was going to Earth back then. That weird spiky haired kid with the stupid glasses and his angsty friend woulda kicked my ass!” Herc: (Pauses) “Hold on a second. Did the spiky-haired kid you’re talking about have an orange shirt with yellow stripes and yell pretty much everything he said?” Zetium: (Eyes narrowing) “...Yes. Do you know him?” Herc: (Laughs) “Know him? Dumbass, he lives in this city. If you two have met before, he’s probably not looking forward to seeing you around.” Zetium: (Eyes widen) “Y-you’re bluffing!” Herc: (Smirks) “The best part about this whole thing is that I’m really not.” Zetium: (Begins backing away) “Uh, Prelude?! We might have a problem!” After a few seconds of receiving no reply, she looked towards Prelude, only to find him engaging in heated combat with Reaper, who was narrowly dodging every one of his attacks and slicing at his body as he went. Zetium: “...Are you kidding me?!” Reaper jumped into the air and used his swords to slash at Prelude’s face. Swiftly blocking the attack with his arms, Prelude used a burst of Dark Mana to knock him away. Prelude: “Well, this has certainly been a learning experience, but we really do need to conserve some energy for the fight we actually came here for. Time to end this.” Before anyone else could react, Prelude created a pulse of Dark Mana that exploded across the area. The pulse caused everything around him to gray out as time slid to a halt. Prelude observed the now completely silent environment with a hint of smugness. Prelude: “Hm. I had forgotten just how exploitable this is.” ---- back to Over Now advancing on Electrolite, who is doing everything he can to block the invisible attack. After a few moments, Over Now’s attack seems to slip a bit, allowing Electrolite a moment to zip out of his range. Electrolite: (Fuming) “Full disclosure, Theodore. I’m getting kinda pissed off over here. You might want to quit before this gets ugly.” Now: “It cannot get any uglier than your attitude.” Electrolite: “...Yeah, screw it.” Electrolite forcibly ripped up the SpecTrix dial and slammed it down again, creating a flash of green light that transformed him into a taller, blue version of his previous form that had metal armor and a more intimidating appearance. Electrolite: “Quip this!” Ultimate Electrolite fired a massive bolt of electricity towards Over Now, who simply stood there and took the attack like usual. Now: “I am not entirely sure what that was expected to do.” Electrolite: “That was just a warm-up. Try this on for size!” Ultimate Electrolite threw his hands into the sky, creating a massive orb of electricity that he held over his head. A veritable storm of lightning bolts suddenly crashed into existence, slamming into both Over Now and the ground around him with equal power. Now: “This is still not-” Over Now was interrupted by a bolt of electricity suddenly slamming into the StarTrix, detransforming him and sending him flying backwards onto the ground. Now/Theo: (Groans) “Oh...so that’s what you were doing.” Electrolite: “I would really recommend giving up right now. I’ve got enough electricity here to turn a fridge magnet into a super magnet capable of dragging the Earth around by its core. Well, not literally, but you get the idea.” Something suddenly clicked in Theo’s head, prompting him to stand up and activate the StarTrix. Theo: “Magnets, eh? Not a bad idea!” Theo pressed down on the StarTrix symbol, transforming into Move Along. The wheel in his chest started spinning at high speeds, the exhaust ports on his back beginning to shoot out jets of steam that slowly increased in intensity. Along: “Alright, take your shot!” Electrolite: “With pleasure!” Ultimate Electrolite threw his arms forward, tossing the massive ball of electricity towards Move Along. As soon as it got within about a meter of him, however, the electricity simply dissipated around him. Electrolite: “Oh, what the hell?!” Along: “Dad, you chose this alien for me. You know what he does, right?” Electrolite: “...He uses his speed to go fast?” Along: “...Magnets. Spinny stuff and magnets.” Electrolite: “...Oh. Well, in that case...” Ultimate Electrolite pressed down on the SpecTrix symbol, devolving back into Electrolite, who spun the dial and transformed into a tall, red alien with an odd, translucent body, barbels, massively long arms, and stumpy, short legs. Electrolite/Rebide: “Try to use some of that on this guy!” Along: “That’s the one that can absorb attacks and throw them back as lasers, right? I think I have a better counter for that than Move Along.” Move Along twisted the StarTrix symbol and slammed down on it, transforming into a large purple humanoid with magenta crystals lining its stone body. Along/???: “Meet Crystal Days, Nullamor’s personal customization of Ben Tennyson’s Chromastone. Not too shabby looking, I don’t think.” Rebide: (Glances at the sidelines to glare at Nullamor) “You just couldn’t stay out of this, could you?” Nullamor: “Actually, I gave him this one before I even knew you two were fighting! The all star match-up I gave him for this hasn’t even shown up yet.” (Pauses) “I mean, not All☆Star, but...eh, you know what I mean.” Rebide rolled his eyes and stomped on the ground a few times, absorbing the kinetic energy until he had enough to form into a ball of energy with his barbels. He shot the energy out of the ball as a beam, which Crystal Days simply took head-on, absorbing it into his own body. Days: “Forgot what this guy does, huh?” Crystal Days returned the energy in the form of a multicolored laser that Rebide simply absorbed as it hit him. Rebide: “I don’t keep up with celebrity news.” Rebide shot the energy back at Crystal Days, who reabsorbed it. Days: “Neither do I, but I mean, come on. You have to admit he’s at least entertaining to watch.” This back-and-forth continued on for a few minutes, with Rebide absorbing and redirecting the energy and Crystal Days doing the same. Rebide: (Shoots energy) “If you seriously think Ditto is better than Way Big, you need to leave.” Days: (Absorbs and re-shoots the energy) “Way Big’s problem is that he’s way too big! How often do you seriously get to use that thing without destroying a city?!” Rebide: “He’s cool because he doesn’t get used that much! He’d lose a lot of his novelty factor if he showed up too often!” Days: “Maybe if your favorite alien needs to have a “novelty” gimmick to be cool, it isn’t that great of an alien!” Nova: (Groans) “This is just getting ridiculous.” Rebide: “Fight me, kid!” Days: “I am fighting you!” Rebide paused while charging up his next attack. Rebide: “Oh. Right.” Days: “We’ve been shooting the shit so much, I think we both forgot we were in the middle of something.” Rebide: (Sheepishly) “Geez. I guess you’re right.” They both stayed silent for a moment. Rebide: (Clears his throat) “Well, back to business.” Days: “Right.” Rebide forcibly pulled up on the SpecTrix symbol, then slammed it back down again, transforming into a larger, bulkier version of himself with four arms, four barbels, and a large eye on the middle of its abdomen. Rebide: “Let’s just get this over with.” The air around Ultimate Rebide suddenly began to distort, seemingly showing the creation of a vacuum around his body. Energy of all sorts from the surrounding the area began flowing into him, causing everything around him to become completely frozen. Crystal Days’ eyes widened at this, and thinking quickly, he leapt into the air to try and escape Ultimate Rebide’s field of effect, but was ultimately unable to escape his growing sphere of influence, dropping to the ground, unable to move. Rebide: “Now, this isn’t really hurting you, since you’re made of rock and all, but I’m pretty sure being rendered unable to attack means I win by default.” Days: (Slowly) “But...I’m...not...the...only...thing...you’re...depowering.” Rebide: “What?” The StarTrix suddenly ran out of power, forcibly reverting Crystal Days back to his human form. Using the brief burst of energy provided by the transformation, Theo swiftly stood up and jumped out of Ultimate Rebide’s range. Energy swiftly began flowing back into the StarTrix, allowing him to transform into Golden Divide. Divide: “I think that’s the first time the StarTrix has actually timed me out of an alien for running out of power.” Rebide: “That’s neat and all, but how do you plan on using it against me? I can absorb anything you throw against me and use it to make myself stronger.” Divide: “That would be true if I were trying to attack you. Fortunately, I have another plan.” Before Ultimate Rebide could react, Golden Divide created a razor-like chunk of energy and threw it at the ground just outside Ultimate Rebide’s range. The energy swiftly burrowed through the ground, cracking open the earth above as it divided the ground below. Ultimate Rebide, unable to react in time, fell into the gorge that had opened up beneath him, disappearing from sight. After a tense few moments of waiting, Golden Divide walked over to the hole he had created, peering down into it, but was unable to see through the veil of darkness filling it. Divide: “...This may not have been my best idea.” After a few moments, the ground beneath him suddenly began rumbling violently. Realizing something was about to happen, Golden Divide created a wave of energy that divided the air in front of him, creating a vacuum that pulled him away from the hole. Seconds afterward, the earth surrounding the hole exploded upwards, swiftly followed by a rather angry-looking humanoid alien made of rock landing on the ground with a massive thud. Rebide/Rockoustic: (Angrily) “I think it’s about time to end this.” ---- to a few moments later, where Rockoustic and Golden Divide are staring each other down. Nova begins to step forward to interfere, but Nullamor stops her with his telekinesis. Nullamor: “Let them handle this for now. This is exactly what I gave Theo that new alien for.” Nova: “What new alien?” Nullamor: “You’ll find out in a couple minutes here.” Rockoustic and Golden Divide began circling each other, each keeping a careful eye on their opponent. Rockoustic: “You don’t have anything to counter this one, Theo. Just give up.” Divide: “You keep telling me to give up like every time you transform!” Rockoustic: “True, but I really mean it this time. Rockoustic is dangerous.” Divide: “I know, but you’re wrong about something here.” Rockoustic: “Which would be?” Divide: “I do have something to counter you!” Golden Divide twisted the StarTrix symbol and pressed down on it, transforming into a five-foot crab-like humanoid alien with a somewhat robotic appearance. His body was covered in orange and maroon paneling, and he had what appeared to be a camera lens and two lights affixed to his forehead. His head was attached to his body by an exposed spine and some sort of tripod structure, and he had a slot of some sort located on the center of his chest. Divide/???: “Let’s see what you can do against Camera Shy!” Nova: “Is that the alien you gave him to counter Rockoustic?” Nullamor: “Yep.” Nova: “...You sure about that?” Nullamor: “Trust me, this is going to be great.” Rockoustic: “Alright, what is that guy supposed to do?” Shy: “I’d be happy to show you if you want. Of course, you could just back off and quit now if you want.” Rockoustic: “Not a chance.” Rockoustic charged at Camera Shy, raising his arm to prepare a massive punch. As soon as he got within a few feet of Camera Shy, the lights on his head lit up, causing Rockoustic to disappear in a flash of light. Nova: “What just happened?” Nullamor: “Keep watching.” The slot on Camera Shy’s chest suddenly printed out what appeared to be a photograph. Casually turning around, he turned the photo so that it faced away from him, then ripped it in half. Rockoustic suddenly popped back into existence, still charging forward as if nothing had happened. Quickly realizing Camera Shy was behind him, he whipped around with a look of confusion. Rockoustic: “The hell was that?” Shy: “I trapped you in a photograph and let you out on the other side. Piece of cake.” Rockoustic: “Tch, is that it?” Rockoustic stomped on the ground, causing a massive pillar of stone to explode out of the earth in front of him, obscuring him from view. Rockoustic: “Have fun trying to take a picture of me now!” Rockoustic shoved the stone pillar forward, causing it to rocket towards Camera Shy at high speed. Casually observing the swiftly-approaching rock, Camera Shy simply tapped himself on the shoulder, causing his color scheme to suddenly invert. The pillar of rock simply flew through his body without making physical contact, crashing to the ground somewhere behind him. Rockoustic: “What the...you’re intangible now?!” Shy: “Eh, sort of.” Rockoustic: “What’s that supposed to mean?!” Shy: “Come over here and find out.” Rockoustic replied by gritting his teeth in frustration and firing a beam of concentrated soundwaves at Camera Shy, who simply phased through them and swiftly hovered over to Rockoustic, passing through his body and tapping his own shoulder again, reverting him to his normal color scheme. Rockoustic: (Whirls around) “That was a pretty dumb idea!” Shy: “I could say the same thing to you.” Rockoustic began winding up a punch. Acting quickly, Camera Shy jumped backwards, tapping him on the chest as he went. Rockoustic’s color scheme suddenly inverted, and as he threw the punch, it simply phased right through Camera Shy’s body and sent him flying forward. Rockoustic: “What the hell?!” Rockoustic attempted to stop himself as he was flying through the air, but found himself unable to interact with the ground. Rockoustic: “This is just getting ridiculous!” Shy: “It’s Photo-Negative Matter Inversion. Any matter I “invert” will only be able to interact with other “inverted” matter.” Rockoustic: “Good lord, why are all your aliens centered around random bullshit like this?!” Shy: “Random bullshit is actually very helpful.” Rockoustic: “Alright then, fine. I didn’t want to do this, but I really don’t have much else in the way of a trump card right now.” Rockoustic ripped up the SpecTrix dial and slammed it back down, evolving himself into a larger version of himself with a mask-like face and a body made of white crystals. His evolution having broken him free of the matter inversion, he turned to look at Theo with a cocky look as five large crystals broke out of the ground around him and began circling his body. Rockoustic: “You’re screwed.” ---- Camera Shy stepped back a few paces, staring up at Ultimate Rockoustic warily. Shy: “Well, normally, I’d agree. However, and I’ve neglected to mention this up until now, you’re not the only person here capable of evolving his aliens.” Rockoustic: “What?” Shy: “Allow me to demonstrate!” The StarTrix dial blinked and changed to display a four-pronged symbol in place of the usual hourglass. A wave of blue energy spread out over Camera Shy’s body, transforming him into a much larger, bulkier version of himself about the same size as Ultimate Rockoustic. His colors turned to shades of blue, and he grew four extra appendages from his back. Shy/Ultimate Camera Shy: “Let’s finish this here and now!” Rockoustic: “Agreed!” Ultimate Rockoustic pointed towards Ultimate Camera Shy, causing two of his crystal drones to fly at his opponent at high speeds. Grabbing them out of the air with his massive claws, Ultimate Camera Shy snapped a picture of them with his forehead camera, trapping them inside a photo that was swiftly printed out and stored in his chest. Ultimate Rockoustic assumed an aggressive expression behind his mask and rocketed forwards at Ultimate Camera Shy, who swiftly took a picture of him. Instead of trapping him inside the photo, however, he simply printed out the photo and used his extra limbs to modify it at incredible speeds, ripping it in half as soon as he was done. The SpecTrix symbol’s prongs that signified an alien’s evolution suddenly disappeared, causing Ultimate Rockoustic to devolve back into normal Rockoustic, who skidded to a halt in front of Ultimate Camera Shy. Rockoustic: “What the-did you just edit reality?!” Camera Shy: “Bingo. The only reason you still exist right now is because I don’t want to erase you.” Rockoustic: (Eyes widen) “You’re bluffing. You can’t actually erase somethi-” Camera Shy: “Yes. I can.” The two stared at each other for a few moments. Rockoustic: “Well then.” Camera Shy: “Well then indeed.” Rockoustic opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a massive explosion coming from the nearby mountains. Rockoustic: “What the hell?!” Camera Shy: “It looks like something’s happening up in the mountains!” Nullamor: “Uh, hate to interrupt, but I think you guys should probably check that out.” Rockoustic: “Why do you think we should-” Nullamor: “Psychic. Let’s just say there’s someone whose ass you need to kick.” Nova: “We’ll come with you!” Nullamor: “Yeah, how about no. Unless I’m wrong, which I’m not, because I’m psychic, you have all of jack and nothing that could help here. It’s up to these two.” Rockoustic: “Alright. I’ll use Temportal to get Theo and I there. What should we be expecting?” Nullamor: “A very angry lump of soil and angst.” Temportal's eyes narrowed. He created a large portal out of nearby debris, gesturing for Ultimate Camera Shy to follow him through. As the portal closed behind them, Nova turned to Nullamor with a skeptical look. Nova: "Uh, hello? Silver Mt. Zion? Pretty sure that could help in just about any situation." Nullamor: "I know. I lied." Nova: "What?!" Nullamor: "Oh, don't get so worked up about it. Trust me, if those two ever want to see eye-to-eye, this is going to be necessary." ---- to the mountain field where the Alpha Team had been fighting Prelude and Zetium. The landscape is utterly devastated, a massive crater having been created. The Alpha Team is down for the count, with every member being completely knocked out. Zetium stands near Prelude unharmed, but incredibly shaken. Zetium: “What the HELL was that?!” Prelude: “Never underestimate the advantages given to you by a good time stop.” Zetium: “Well, uh...I guess that settles that, then.” Prelude: “Correct. However, the real fight is still to come.” Shortly after Prelude finished speaking, a portal opened up behind him, out of which stepped Isaac as Temportal and Theo as Ultimate Camera Shy. Prelude: (Turns around) “Speak of the devil. I believe that’s how it goes, at any rate.” Temportal: “Yeah, you got it. Now, what the hell are you doing here?!” Prelude: “We were ordered to fight you.” Zetium: “Uh, for the record, he ''was ordered to fight you. I’m just backup.” Temportal: (Glances towards the unconscious Alpha Team) “Who are they?” Prelude: “A local Plumber Team that tried to get in our way. Tried.” Temportal: “Theo, get them out of here. This is between Prelude and I.” Camera Shy: “Dad, just...just teleport them out. What’s stopping you from doing that?” Temportal paused. Temportal: “The fact that I didn’t think of it.” Camera Shy: “Maybe it’s less that my aliens are bullshit and more that you just don’t use your own bullshit correctly.” Temportal: “...Nah, your stuff is still bullshit.” Temportal stretched out his hands, creating portals underneath the scattered members of the Alpha Team and teleporting them to a different part of the mountain. Temportal: “Alright, where were we? Oh, right. About to kick this guy’s ass.” Camera Shy: “I bet I can kick his ass faster than you can.” Temportal: (Smirks) “Like I’ll give you the opportunity.” Prelude: “I don’t think either of you are going to take me down this time.” Temportal: “What do you-” Prelude threw out his arms, his hands glowing with Dark Mana. The SpecTrix and StarTrix symbols were suddenly surrounded by Dark Mana, beeping and graying out, forcibly reverting Isaac and Theo to their human forms. Isaac: “...Oh.” Theo: “I’m still gonna come over here and beat the shit out of you, dude.” Isaac: “Theodore, no. I’ll handle this.” Theo: “But-” Isaac: “Listen to me. This guy is my problem.” Prelude: “Your Omnitrixes are disabled. Neither of you will be able to beat me without them.” Theo: (Glares) “...Is that so?” Prelude: (Puts his arms out to the side) “By all means, try attacking me if you want. However, I doubt-” Prelude was interrupted by Theo jumping up punching him in the face, breaking off a chunk of his earthen body and sending it flying. Isaac: “Theo! What did I just say?!” Theo: “Not sure! I usually tune out bullshit!” Before Prelude could recover, Theo grabbed onto his horn and ripped it off, stabbing it into his body and slicing it apart on his way down. With his Dark Mana body exposed, Prelude swiftly hovered back a few feet, reforming his body as he went. Prelude: “Hm. Unexpected, admittedly somewhat impressive, but ultimately futile. In case you were wondering, this is why your father could never defeat me before; his only transformation able to attack my energy form is his Animam Creari transformation, which I heavily outclass in the experience department.” Theo: (Under his breath) “Sorta wish I was a Vampire right now...” (Out loud) “So you’re saying I need to attack you with mana?” Prelude: “I suppose. But you won’t get the chance.” Pillars of earth suddenly shot out of the ground, knocking Theo off-balance. As he was fumbling, Prelude shot a beam of energy towards him, forcing him to swiftly dodge out of the way. The edge of the shot grazed his shoulder, causing him to grunt in pain and assume an annoyed expression. Isaac: “Theodore, are you okay?!” Theo: (Frustrated) “I’m fine.” Isaac: “You need to get out of here! I’m the one who wasn’t able to destroy Prelude to begin with, this is my responsibility!” Theo whipped around to face Isaac, shooting him a nasty look. Theo: “You stay out of this! Stop trying to indulge your fucking Hero Complex for five god damn seconds and let me handle this!” Isaac: “But-” Theo: “No, you listen to me! You’re so desperate to be the hero that you just can’t fathom your kid being able to handle his own shit! I don’t know if something happened to you in the past that made you feel guilty for not being able to save someone or something, but you need to let it go! You can’t keep trying to protect me from everything! At some point, both of us need to grow up!” Before Isaac could reply, Theo turned back to Prelude, pointing at him accusingly. Theo: “And I told ''you to never come back to Earth! I'm not going to let you just waltz on in here whenever you want!” Prelude: “And what of it? Your Omnitrix is disabled, and you can’t just punch an energy being.” Theo: (Eyes narrow) “Try me.” Prelude suddenly appeared directly in front of Theo, holding a large, glowing ball of Dark Mana. Prelude: “If you insist.” Theo swiftly dove forward under Prelude’s legs, knocking them out from under him as he went. Thinking quickly, he jumped onto Prelude’s back and slammed down with his leg, punching a hole in his earthen form. Prelude finally got up, prompting Theo to grab onto the edge of the hole he made, clinging onto Prelude’s back. Prelude tried grabbing at Theo, but his arms were too short to reach the center of his back. Theo: “Having some problems, Prelude?” Prelude: “Not for long.” A pillar of earth suddenly shot up out of the ground behind Prelude, who swiftly jumped backwards into it, slamming Theo through it and causing him to lose his grip, sending him rolling across the ground for a few meters. Prelude: “I grow weary of your stalling. Time to finish this.” There was a blinding flash of red as Dark Mana began flowing heavily from various points on Prelude’s body, pooling on the ground in a fog-like form. The mana suddenly flashed red again, then began growing and suddenly erupted into flames, consuming him in another blinding light. The flames grew larger, and suddenly, a huge form started rising out of them, covered in energy. The form grew to about fifty feet in height and suddenly stopped, the energy surrounding it and the blood-red flames being absorbed into its body, revealing a huge being mostly made of energy and covered in several faces. Zenith: “You have one last chance to surrender.” Theo: “Same to you.” Zenith: “Still clinging to that false sense of bravado, I take it?” Theo: “Not as much as you’re clinging to being a dumbass.” Prelude fired a massive beam of energy towards Theo, who swiftly jumped out of the way. Theo: “What are you even doing here, Prelude? What’s on Earth that you need so badly?” Zenith: “I don’t need anything from this planet. I am merely following orders.” Theo: “Since when do you take orders?” Zenith: “Since it became necessary to fulfill my creator’s goal!” Prelude stomped the ground, causing massive spiked pillars of dirt to explode out of the earth, nearly impaling Theo, who managed to punch the spiked top off of one and jump onto it. Theo: “And what would that be, exactly?” Zenith: “The destruction of life.” Theo: "That's fucking vague. What, all of it?” Zenith: “Correct.” Theo’s eyes narrowed into a glare. Theo: “So...the reason you came back to my planet...was to work towards some bullshit goal ''of killing everything?!” Zenith: “Correct.” Theo’s eyes and the StarTrix dial flashed red for a brief moment. Theo: (Seething) “You really are just an irredeemable bastard, aren’t you?” Zenith: “It’s what I was created to do. It is my purpose for existing.” Theo: “...Then there’s only one thing I have to say.” Zenith: “Really? Some last words, perhaps?” Theo: “Not quite.” Theo threw his hands out in front of him, assuming as wide of a stance as he could on top of the earthen pillar. Theo: “HOLY DAGGERS!” A massive glowing circle of white runes exploded into existence in front of him, shooting an incredible barrage of knives made from light directly at Prelude. Before he could react, the storm of daggers slammed into him like a tidal wave, tearing apart his earthen body and ripping at his energy form. Isaac: (Eyes wide) “Holy shit!” The storm of daggers eventually died down and stopped. Prelude’s ripped-up energy form fell to the ground, coalescing back into its normal state. Seeing that the current threat was taken care of, Theo fell to his knees, exhausted. Zetium: “...You know, I think we’re just gonna leave.” She quickly ran over to Prelude’s unconscious body, grabbing him with mana-coated hands and disappearing into a portal. As soon as the two left, the StarTrix and the SpecTrix beeped momentarily, signaling they were back online. After a few moments, Theo jumped down from his position on the dirt pillar and landed on his feet, taking a moment to rub his shoulder. Isaac: “Since when do you know magic?!” Theo: “Since about this morning. It’s just that one spell. I actually only learned it for our fight, but-” Isaac: “Wait, you were gonna use that on ''me?!” Theo: “It wasn’t that powerful last time I did it! I could barely hit the damn target!” Isaac: “...Jesus.” Theo: “So...” (Shoots Isaac a wry look) “Still think I can’t handle things myself?” Isaac: (Sighs) “Alright, I give. You were right. I’m sorry. You can go out and fight if you need to.” Theo: “I was going to keep doing it anyway even if you said no, but thanks anyways.” Isaac: “Yeah, that’s your problem. You’re too much like me when I was your age.” Theo looked around the area, observing all the destruction that had been caused to the landscape during the fight with Prelude. Theo: “We should probably do something about all that.” Isaac: “I guess.” Season suddenly apparated from the StarTrix in a burst of blue energy, its body shimmering and turning to a calm bluish-green. It glowed momentarily, then created a wave of teal energy that shot out across the area, transforming it back into its original state. Isaac: “Why are all your aliens more useful than mine?” Theo: “Karma.” Isaac: (Shrugs) “...Fair enough.” ---- to the back room of Nullamor's shop. Azmuth is standing on a desk looking through an electronic microscope at some of the regenerative nanomachines as Nullamor waits nearby. After a few moments, Azmuth grunts and stops peering into the lens. Nullamor: "So, you figure anything out?" Azmuth: "Well, there's only so much I can do with your primitive equipment, but there is something suspicious about these." Nullamor: "Ha! I knew it!" (Pauses) "Uh, what is it, specifically?" Azmuth: "These nanomachines don't have any assembly points." Nullamor: "What?" Azmuth: "From what I can see, there's no evidence of these nanomachines being assembled. It's more as if they were simply apparated into existence." Nullamor: "So we're looking at a reality warper here?" Azmuth: "Not necessarily. There are a few alien species with abilities that could make something like this. I'll have to take this back to my own laboratories for further analysis." Nullamor: "Take as many as you need. They regenerate." Azmuth: "Obviously. Now, you said these came from a human laboratory?" Nullamor: "From what I've been able to find, the records behind these things say they were developed from the ground up in an underwater laboratory in the Marianas Trench. They really didn't want anyone getting their hands on these things." Azmuth: "Did you find any records giving the specifics of their production?" Nullamor: "Yeah, the research team had to give weekly reports on their progress to the higher-ups. Took some not-quite-legal espionage on my end, but I found them." Azmuth: "And?" Nullamor: "Nothing really stood out until the last week of updates before the operation went to shit. Apparently the nanomachines took a massive leap in development, but the team couldn't figure out why." Azmuth: "Hm. It's not much, but it's something. I'll look into it on my own. I don't know how much longer I can stand being around this shoddy equipment." Azmuth pulled out his remote and pressed on one of the buttons, teleporting away. Nullamor: (Grumbling) "Well, have a good day to you too. Asshole." ---- to the hidden room in the Archives, where Divara has restored Prelude’s body to normal. Zetium: “Well, that could’ve gone a lot better.” Divara: “No use crying over spilled milk. Or giant-ass super moves in this case.” Prelude: “I don’t understand. How could that whelp have learned such powerful magic since our last encounter?” Divara: “Uh, Holy Daggers is actually a fairly low-level spell. You just got him fucking pissed, friendo.” Zetium: “Did we even get anything accomplished?” Divara: “No, but that was the plan. I wanted to see how Theo would take you two down. Divination is nice, but not precise, if ya know what I mean. Splitting timelines and all that.” Prelude: “You sent us there to fail?” Divara: (Cheerfully) “Yep!~” Zetium and Prelude looked at each other, then back to Divara, somewhat flabbergasted by her attitude. Zetium: “Are you even taking any of this seriously?” Divara: “I never take anything seriously. First you take one little thing seriously, next thing you know you’re literally incapable of smiling, like Mr. Grumpy Gums over here.” (Gestures to Prelude) Prelude: “I do not have gums.” Divara: “See what I mean? Besides...” Divara clapped her hands, causing a bookshelf behind her to slide open, revealing a massive vat of mysterious green energy. Divara: “I’ve already got everything figured out.” Major Events *Candyman, Crystal Days, Camera Shy, and Ultimate Camera Shy make their debuts. *Ultimate Rebide makes his debut. *Isaac agrees to allow Theodore to perform hero work. Characters Protagonists *Theodore Logical *Herc *Pyros *F3 *Reaper Neutral *Isaac Logical *Divara Antagonists *Prelude *Zetium Minor *Xr. Nullamor *Moranna Ceres *Nova Eldridge Aliens Used By Theo *Kugelblitz *Diamond Eyes *Candyman *Over Now *Move Along *Crystal Days *Golden Divide *Camera Shy **Ultimate Camera Shy *Season By Isaac *Sandrill *Overtide *Magmator *Carbon *PHAcid *Electrolite **Ultimate Electrolite *Rebide **Ultimate Rebide *Rockoustic **Ultimate Rockoustic *Temportal Category:Earth-83